


Hnefatafl

by sourassin (scherryzade)



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Ambush, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Men - Freeform, POV Outsider, Pre-Canon, bandits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-14
Updated: 2016-06-14
Packaged: 2018-07-15 03:26:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7205003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scherryzade/pseuds/sourassin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If anyone asks, Hector stole his swords from a dwarven prince somewhere north of Fornost. Or found them in a troll horde in the Grey Mountains and used them to fight his way out when the troll came home. Or he won them off a Haradrim janissary at the gaming tables of Pelargir.</p>
<p>The truth is rather less impressive.</p>
<p>~</p>
<p>The North-South Road through Dunland isn't safe to travel alone, even for Dwarven warriors.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hnefatafl

If anyone asks, Hector stole his swords from a dwarven prince somewhere north of Fornost. Or found them in a troll horde in the Grey Mountains and used them to fight his way out when the troll came home. Or he won them off a Haradrim janissary at the gaming tables of Pelargir.

The truth is rather less impressive.

It ain't that he's ashamed, exactly - a man's got to eat, and he'd had a bad winter and a worse spring, a fever hitting just as the weather turned, so when Wayland offered him a place with his coveys and a cut of the takings, he couldn't say no. Hector's run with worse folks.

They spent the summer harrying the merchants who travelled the North-South Road through Dunland, up by the fens around Tharbad, and gathered a tidy sum by Cerveth, though Hector's sum, he was beginning to think, was less tidy than the others'. And it wasn't so much that Wayland was happy, for the merchants had gotten wise to his methods and started hiring dwarven guards, steady, battle-hardened little bastards who didn't run like Gondorian mercenaries when you yelled at them. They'd all come away with scars, and lost one of their number to an ill-placed axe - Wayland's sister's man's cousin, he said, though Hector never saw any sign o' kinship between them while the lad lived. But maybe that was enough for Wayland to act as he did, sending them after the dwarf when there looked to be no profit in it.

And they all took to it, Hector included, for one Dwarf alone against half a dozen fellows is a different proposition than one Dwarf to each Man.

Best Hector can figure it, the Dwarf was following the last convoy to pass, one that even the duller blades in Wayland's company wouldn't have chanced, seeing as they were all Dwarves, no merchant Men among them. Why this Dwarf was lagging behind there's no telling, but somewhere he'd taken a wrong turning, off the main road and down a path that took him too close to Wayland's camp. It was late, and he walked with the heavy feet of the bone weary, and didn't hear them approach until they were upon him.

And if Wayland had half the wit of a decent raider, he'd 'a set them on the Dwarf all at once, not given him a chance to draw his sword, but Wayland's mean mood wanted to see the Dwarf suffer, so he had them set on him in pairs, one to draw him one way, the second to poke at his back. Hector might not have seen the harm if he'd been the one doing the poking, but face to face with the Dwarf, seeing the cold anger in his eyes, Hector thought it a fierce cruel way to kill someone, setting them against a such warrior. So Hector didn't press the Dwarf as hard as he might, and the swinging blow that could have taken his arm only took the tip of his sword.

Hector hung back after that, and was so busy gaping at the shorn off end of his not-so-fine-after-all Gondorian blade that he almost didn't see the second dwarf approaching.

The first Dwarf could hardly be mistaken for anything but what he was, broad as a bull and twice as strong. The second, Hector might have taken for a child, for he was a head shorter again, and slender. But he held his sword like a warrior, even if it barely reached Hector's throat.

Hector took a step back, easing his free hand up appeasingly and shifting his grip on his sword. The rest of the company hadn't seen the second Dwarf, not even Wayland, standing off to one side as he was, but the other Dwarf had, and it seemed to knock the fight right out of him.

"Fili, no," he said, then, "go!" Henning took advantage of his distraction to land a blow with his cudgel that had the Dwarf staggering, and Cobb followed up with a slash at his legs that had the dwarf on his knees. "Fili, run."

Fili didn't run - instead, he took a few hesitant steps further. His sword didn't waver, nor did his gaze - that was stuck on the other Dwarf, so it was a matter of a moment for Hector to sidestep his blade and sweep his legs from under him, twisting the sword out of his hand as he did so. The other Dwarf gave an anguished howl as he fell - the company, finally seeing sense, flung themselves upon him to keep him down.

Hector picked up the fallen Dwarf's sword, and paused a moment to admire the workmanship. A match in weight to his own, ruined, blade, but in craft far beyond anything he'd carried. Then he brought the blade to the little Dwarf's throat, and - stopped.

"Please," said the first Dwarf, his voice wretched. "Anything you want - gold, jewels - I'll get it, only please -" Someone's boot cut him off.

Looking down at the little Dwarf, Hector saw his first reaction wasn't far off - he wasn't more than a child, bravura lost with his sword.

"What d'you reckon?" Hector called out. "Think he's good for it?"

"These beggars?" snapped Wayland. "No Dwarf with gold ever left his mountain. Finish him. Finish them both."

It occurred to Hector that, while he might have run with worse folks, he'd also run with better, and now he was looking at killing with no profit in sight save Wayland's supposed vengeance, he didn't see the point of it.

It also occurred to him that even a beggar-Dwarf wouldn't carry a sword so fine.

He took Alder first, with the dwarven blade, cutting through him so quick he was still smiling as he toppled. The ragged point of his own sword took Cobb's throat, not so cleanly, a gout of blood catching Hector's face. By then the Dwarf had brought down Henning and the rest were backing away. Hector twisted the swords in his hands, swung them out and round, relishing the weight of them. He grinned at what remained of Wayland's band, and they fled, Wayland flinging curses after them.

"You're a treacherous Orc-whelped bastard," Wayland spat at him, backing away. "No-one'll trust you after they hear about this, mark my words."

"I'm a thief and a cutthroat, same as you," said Hector equitably. "Nobody ever trusted me yet, so I don't see as it's a loss."

"You won't get a penny - you think he'll give you gold? Jewels?"

"Already gave me a nice new sword." He swung the weapon at Wayland, who leapt back, then spat at him, and fled.

Hector hallooed after him, mocking, before turning back to the two Dwarves. The little one, back on his feet, flung himself at the other, who folded him into his arms and started to berate him.

"What were you thinking? What were you doing out here?"

"You were late," said the little one, muffled in the other Dwarf's heavy furs. "You always get lost."

"You could have been killed!"

"So could you!"

The Dwarf pushed the younger one away a little, holding his shoulders and glaring at him. "Promise me, next time, you'll do as I say. If I tell you to run, you run, no matter the cost."

The little Dwarf's jaw set with a sullen cast, but he nodded, just, and the other pulled him close once more.

He looked towards Hector, then, and said, "I owe you - more than I can say."

Hector snorted. "More than you can pay, too, most like."

The dwarf shifted, subtly freeing his sword arm and keeping the lad away from Hector. "If you want gold, I can get it. It would take time, but you have my word -"

"Don't reckon I have time to wait around for your gold," said Hector.

"Jewels would take longer."

"He your son?"

The Dwarf stiffened. "My nephew. As I said, I do owe you. Name your price, or claim what debt you will."

"This is a nice sword," said Hector, spinning the dwarven sword in his hand, careful to point it away from the two Dwarves. "This," he continued, waggling his own sword, "is a piece of shite."

"Cheap iron, over-worked. Brittle," said the lad, peeking out at Hector. His uncle hushed him, but his mouth twitched into something approaching a smile.

"And if I were a Dwarf, I might have known that when I stole it. I'll keep this, if you don't mind." The lad nodded, wide-eyed. "Tho' it's a mite short for me. Would be better in a pair."

Now it was the Dwarf's turn to snort. "I can give you another to match it. Or one better suited to your height."

"A matched set would be grand."

The Dwarf nodded, and though they didn't shake hands on it - what with Hector carrying two swords and, he realised later, Cobb's blood still running down his face - Hector walked South not a week later with two fine dwarven swords strapped to his back. And though it doesn't serve him well as a story, and the Dwarf was no prince, he's had reason to thank the Valar he decide to save the life of a blacksmith and his nephew, however ill Wayland speaks of him.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hnefatafl is the name for an old Norse board game (or type of game) - from Wiki-p: "Although the size of the board and the number of pieces varied, all games involved a distinctive 2:1 ratio of pieces, with the lesser side having a king-piece that started in the centre. No complete, unambiguous description of the rules of a tafl game exists, but the king's objective was to escape to (variously) the board's periphery or corners, while the greater force's objective was to capture him. The attacking force has the natural advantage at the start of each game, likely indicating an important cultural aspect by mimicking the success of Viking raids." The ratio here is even less in Thorin's favour.
> 
> Placenames largely cribbed from the [LOTR Project map](http://lotrproject.com/map/).
> 
> I started this thinking Hector was a rogue with a heart of gold, but he ended up kind of violent and untrustworthy and I still like him. And yes, seeing him take apart his former allies with two swords is what inspires Fili to take up dual swords. Thorin despairs.
> 
> Also! Spot the horrible ominous foreshadowing! It was not intentional!


End file.
